SLAPPing Back
An easy change to help victims of domestic abuse.
SLAPP!
No, that isn’t the sound of me smacking my open palm against the face of the “hypothetical” man in this “made up” story about abuse that I’m about to tell you.
It’s the sound made by the papers from his “theoretical” lawsuit when they landed on the floor outside my “fictional” door.
Let me back up.
Picture this: You escape an abuser. You finally work up the cajones you were never really sure you had, and you leave his ass. You go to your local family court — A.K.A. actual hell on earth — and convince a judge to make the deadbeat stay the hell away from you.
It’s a horrible experience, but when it’s all said and done, you get your temporary restraining order, a second court date, and a tissue to wipe your eyes and nose.
You walk outside the courthouse, and all of a sudden, you can breathe.
True, you’re pretty banged up. But after weeks and months and years of being afraid, a tiny bubble of hope floats up. If he comes near you now, you can call 9–1–1 and he’ll be arrested.
Maybe, just maybe, you’re finally free.
Weeks go by. You start to stabilize. The wounds — metaphorical and otherwise — start to scab…
